Mission Partner Biography Launching

What happens when one person refuses to tol­er­ate injustice and gives everything they have to see it right?

NZCMS mis­sion­ary Edric Baker was driven by the idea that health­care should be avail­able for every person, rich or poor. From New Zealand to Vietnam, and finally, for three decades in Bangladesh, this is a story of dogged per­sist­ence as, sus­tained by his Chris­tian faith, Edric con­fron­ted the ‘emer­gency of poverty allied with the best people for the task: the poor themselves’.

Kate Day has written a bio­graphy of Edric Baker, “Call Me Brother”. We would like to invite you to pur­chase a copy of the book and attend the book launch.

NZCMS Mission Partner, Nick Laing, recently had this to say about Edric:

“Edric was innov­at­ive, ground-break­ing and years ahead of his time. He trained local people to become skilled health workers; he was treat­ing con­di­tions for a frac­tion of the cost of other large medical insti­tu­tions and he was treat­ing dia­betes in a remote rural place at a time when almost no one was doing that. … He inspires me … he com­mit­ted to the people and place he loved for 35 years, living among them in the way they knew – in a small iron-roofed house without running water or elec­tri­city. It’s such a great example to try and live up to. Read this book, you’ll be a better person, it’ll change your life.” 

When Edric was a teen­ager growing up in Wel­ling­ton he read the bio­graphy of Albert Sch­weitzer, a theo­lo­gian who diver­ted from an elite aca­demic career to become a doctor among the poor in French Equat­orial Africa. This inspired Edric and aged 18, he announced to his family that he wanted to be a mis­sion­ary doctor. When Kate accep­ted an invit­a­tion to write Edric’s bio­graphy, her hope was that this story would inspire the next gen­er­a­tion. Our prayer is that as this book is launched, it would make its way into the hands of someone who would be inspired by the way Edric lived his life in service of Jesus Christ by serving ‘the least of these.’

We invite you to buy a copy of this book, read it your­self and then pass it on to a young person to be inspired to serve God in mission, just as Edric was. A pro­mo­tional video was also made which you can watch here and share with others.

Click here to buy the E‑Book

Click the city below for Book Launch Event Details

• Christ­ch­urch
• Wel­ling­ton